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Did the Turkish President’s Security Detail Attack Protesters in Washington? What the Video Shows

MAY 26, 2017

Kicked, punched protesters

Choked, slammed woman

Rushed, punched protesters

Punched and kicked a man

Punched a protester

Kicked man on ground

Knocked over women, kicked man

Kicked man on ground

Cousins

Kicked woman on ground

Kicked, punched protesters

Choked, slammed woman

Rushed, punched protesters

Punched and kicked a man

Punched a protester

Kicked man on ground

Knocked over women, kicked man

Kicked man on ground

Kicked woman on ground

Cousins

The New York Times reviewed videos and photos to track the actions of 24 men, including armed members of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s security detail, who attacked protesters in Washington last week. Many of the protesters were American citizens.

The men kicked people lying on the ground and put a woman in a chokehold just a mile from the White House. They outnumbered the protesters nearly two to one.

The State Department has condemned the episode, and some American lawmakers have called for the men to be prosecuted. But none have been charged with a crime. Here’s what video of the main actors shows about the identities of the men and the roles they played in the clash.

Men in Dark Suits

Rushed, punched protesters

Rushed, punched protesters

Kicked, punched protesters

Kicked man in head

Choked, slammed woman

Punched and kicked man

Punched a protester

Punched, kicked a protester

Punched, kicked two protesters

Kicked man on ground

Ten of the men who attacked protesters appear to be part of a formal security detail. They dressed in dark suits, and they wore in-ear radio receivers, Turkish breast pins and lanyards with identification cards. At least four of the men carried guns.

Two of these men charged protesters and appeared to start the main part of the fight.

V.O.A. Turkish

We used five camera angles to track the movements of these two men throughout the melee. One man’s identity card shows Turkish and American flags and Turkey’s presidential seal, suggesting he is a member of the delegation visiting the United States.

V.O.A. Turkish

Sayid Reza Yasa, the man with the bullhorn seen below, was lying on the ground when two of these men kicked him in the torso and face.

V.O.A. Turkish

At one point, as many as four of the men were attacking the same protester.

Pouyan Boakei

Another guard choked Ceren Borazan, 26, a protester, and slammed her to the ground. “He was saying ‘You are dead,’ ” Ms. Borazan told The Times in an interview. “I felt so awful. As a woman, as an American, as a Kurd. Right now I don’t even feel safe here.”

The identities of these men are unclear. But Turkey’s state-owned news wire, Anadolu Agency, which filmed the violence, reported that “the president’s security detail and Turkish police” were involved in the fight.

A representative at the Turkish Embassy in Washington declined to comment on the people involved in the violence. In a statement last week, the embassy said that the protesters caused the violence by “aggressively provoking” Turkish-American citizens who had gathered to greet the president and had responded in self-defense.

Men in Khaki

Punched several people

Kicked man on ground

Knocked over women

Repeatedly punched woman

Punched protesters

Punched a protester

Six men who attacked protesters wore outfits resembling a summer uniform worn by Turkish guards – khaki pants, black T-shirts and green or brown shirts. Here are three of them:

V.O.A. Turkish

These three men charged at protesters. One man knocked two women to the ground, and another man repeatedly punched Lucy Usoyan, a protester, as she lay on the ground. The third man kicked Mr. Yasa after he was thrown to the ground moments earlier.

V.O.A. Turkish

In this video, which was taken after the fight had been broken up, four of the men stand around, and one of them is arguing with a Washington police officer.

V.O.A. Turkish

Three members of this group of men rushed into the melee, attacking at least three protesters.

V.O.A. Turkish, Pouyan Bokaei

Civilian supporters of Erdogan

Kicked woman on ground

Kicked protester on ground

Punched protester repeatedly

Kicked man and woman

Kicked two protesters

Kicked woman on ground

Punched a protester

Kicked man on ground

Some of the attackers identified themselves as supporters of Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who were visiting Washington to meet him. Most dressed casually and did not appear to be armed, and their connection with the Turkish security detail, if any, is not known.

But they played a central role in the fighting. Two of these men, Alpkenan Dereci and Sinan Narin, were involved at the very beginning, when they pushed and punched protesters they met in the street.

Mr. Dereci, who was wearing a yellow T-shirt in this video, joined the skirmish, repeatedly punching a man. A protester then struck him with a bullhorn, leaving a gash on his face.

V.O.A. Turkish

Mr. Narin, who owns a property in Virginia, said protesters ripped his shirt and threw bottles at him. “The fight started with me,” Mr. Narin wrote in Turkish on Facebook.

He posted video to Facebook that shows his shirt ripped and his face bloodied, matching footage taken from farther away.

Pouyan Bokaei, Sinan Narin via Facebook

After the fight grew, Mr. Narin followed security guards and repeatedly kicked one protester, Ms. Usoyan, on the ground. A Washington officer then escorted him back across the street.

V.O.A. Turkish

In an interview, Mr. Narin acknowledged kicking the woman on the ground. “I wasn’t paying attention,” he said. “I thought it was a man. I would never kick a woman.”

He said he was trying to defend himself. The protesters were “terrorists,” he said, who started the fight by punching and spitting on him when he tried to get them to “calm down.”

The second man, Alpkenan Dereci, traveled to Washington from Toronto with his cousin Ahmet C. Dereci, according to a report on TRT, the Turkish state broadcaster. A video shows the man identified as Ahmet dressed in a purple T-shirt, punching and kicking a protester when the second attack broke out.

V.O.A. Turkish

A third man, Eyup Yildirim, is seen on video telling police he is a cousin of Alpkenan Dereci. “I’m an American citizen and a taxpayer,” he said. He repeatedly kicked Ms. Usoyan, 34, as she lay on the ground. According to New Jersey records, Mr. Yildirim is 50 and manages three companies in that state.

V.O.A. Turkish

Mr. Yildirim, Alpkenan Dereci and Ahmet C. Dereci did not respond to requests for comment.

In an interview, Ms. Usoyan said that she had sustained a concussion, and that a doctor had authorized six weeks off from work for recovery. “I’m glad I’m alive,” she said.

The President’s Entourage

Head of Security

Kicked, punched protesters

Took instructions

Turkey’s president, Mr. Erdogan, watched the brawl from a black Mercedes-Benz sedan parked nearby, at the Turkish ambassador’s residence. His role in the clash, if any, is unclear. But video of his entourage shows that at least one member of the security detail positioned next to him rushed into the fight and started kicking and punching protesters.

While sitting in the car, Mr. Erdogan conferred with Muhsin Kose, his head of security, who leaned into the car’s rear door. After speaking with Mr. Erdogan, Mr. Kose talked into his earpiece, and three security personnel who were guarding the president’s car hurried toward the protest.

V.O.A. Turkish

The brawl began moments later, and one of these men, a heavy-set bald man, appeared on video punching and kicking people.

V.O.A. Turkish

Mr. Kose talked to Mr. Erdogan throughout the brawl. Two of Mr. Kose’s colleagues met on the lawn as the brawl ended and return to the car, and then Mr. Erdogan left his car and entered the ambassador’s residence.

Anadolu Agency via Getty Images, V.O.A. Turkish

Several minutes elapsed between the earlier scuffle on the street and Mr. Erdogan’s arrival, during which the police separated the groups and Turkish security personnel remained behind police lines. A few seconds after Mr. Kose spoke into his earpiece, the men charged.

“Ten bodyguards, they just crossed the street,” said one of the protesters, Ceren Borazan.

Because of an editing error, an earlier version of a capsule summary for this article misstated the location of the confrontation. As the article correctly stated, it took place in front of the Turkish ambassador’s residence in Washington, which was formerly the Turkish embassy; it did not occur outside Turkey’s current embassy.